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The Importance of Perseverance

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, said, “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”

Successful people try, the most successful people try harder. Nearly all of the most successful people you’ll ever meet have this trait in common: they did just a little more after they first felt they couldn’t do anymore.

I’m certain that the primary difference between success and huge success is the little “extra” that turns ordinary into extraordinary. The ability to do more than you think you can is not limited to hugely successful people, everyone has that ability, it’s just that the most successful people put it to use.

I’m also pretty sure that persevering people have fewer regrets than those who quit too early. They never have to wonder “what if” I had kept going, and tried just a little more. They know in their hearts they gave a 100% effort and knowing that makes any outcome easier to accept.

The most successful people also know that persevering doesn’t mean never quitting. It means quitting with a purpose and that purpose is almost always to begin again, only better the next time. They know when “to hold them and when to fold them” and don’t hesitate to change direction, back-up, turn-around or do whatever is required to eventually move closer to their goal.

Simply put, the most successful people know that sometimes the fastest way forward is to initially take a step or two backwards. Momentum might be slowed but perseverance is not stopped.

Now at this point in my blog posts I’ll often ask “do you have what it takes to do whatever I’m blogging about?” I have no need to ask that in this instance however because I know you do. More important, somewhere inside of you , YOU know YOU do.

So push on, keep going, decide this very moment that you will not be stopped. Once you’ve made that awesome decision anything and anyone that you come across will find it far more difficult to keep you from your dreams!

Last weekend, we had a huge basketball game in my back yard in Syracuse. Duke vs. Syracuse.

I saw an interview with Coach K of Duke and Coach Boeheim of the Orange. These guys put in the work, day after day, month after month, year after year. In spite of the National Championships. The huge bank. The fame. They still do the work they did 30 years ago to accumulate those W’s.